SALIDA, Colo. (AP) Despite a severe drought across the Southwestern United States this spring, there should be plenty of water for rafters and anglers in one of the nation's most popular mountain rivers.
State and federal officials say water from melting snow is rushing into the Arkansas River in central Colorado, thanks to a surprisingly wet winter in the towering peaks of the Sawatch Range where the river begins.
Some of those peaks stand just outside the northern reach of the drought, so they collected near-normal snowfall.
Rob White, manager of the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, says this won't be an epic whitewater year, but it will be a good one.
The recreation area is a state park encompassing 150 miles (240 kilometers) of the river near its source.